A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

5 16 IHONORIUS. HONORIUS.
of Constantius (who was colleague of Honorius in for the first time since its capture by the Gauls,
the consulship) with Placidia, who, after the death under Brennus, B. c. 390; and the barbarians acof Ataulphus, had suffered much ill usage from quired a permanent settlement in the provinces;
his murderer, but had been restored by Valia or the Visi-Goths, the Franks, and the Burgundians,
Wallia, the successor (not immediately) of Ataul- in Gaul; and the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans, in
phus; and the year 418 (when Honorius was Spain; while Britain and Armorica became virconsul for the twelfth time) by a treaty with the tually independent. The vigour of Theodosius the
Goths, ceding to them the south-western part of Great, and the energy of Stilicho, had deferred
Gaul, with Toulouse for their capital, in a sort of these calamities for a while; but the downfal of
feudal subordination to the empire of the West. the latter left the remote parts of the empire deThe Franks were gradually occupying the left bank fenceless; and all the military ability of Constantius
of the lower Rhine, and the Armoricans, who alone just protected Italy, and preserved with difficulty
of the Gauls exhibited anything of a military some portions of the transalpine provinces. Hospirit, were acquiring a precarious and turbulent norius, shut up in Ravenna, appears, from an anlecindependence; and their revolt perhaps induced dote preserved by Procopius, as resting, however,
Honorius to concede to the portion of Gaul remain- on report only, and repeated with some variation
ing in the hands of the Romans a popular repre- by Zonaras, to have looked on these calamities
sentative body. In Spain, which had been miserably with apathy. When Rome was plundered by
ravaged by Suevi, Alans, Vandals, and Visi-Goths, Alaric, a eunuch who had the care of the poultry
a new claimant of the purple arose in Maximus, of Hlonorius announced to him that " Rome was
who occupied some part of that country for three destroyed " ('PNA71 ad7rACwAe). "And yet she just
years, when he was taken and sent to Ravenna. now ate out of my hands," was the reply of the
According to Prosper Tiro, who alone notices the emperor, referring to a favourite hen, of unusual
beginning of his revolt, it appears to have taken size, which he called " Rome." "I mean," said
place in 418: its suppression is fixed by the better the eunuch, " that the city of Rome has been deauthority of Marcellinus in A.D. 422. Meanwhile, stroyed by Alaric." " But I," said the emperor,
troops of Honorius maintained some footing in the " thought that my hen' Rome' was dead." " So
country, and a part at least of the inhabitants re- stupid (adds Procopius) do they say this emperor
mained faithful to him. was." Yet, weak and stupid as he was, he reIn A. D. 421 the importunity of Placidia extorted tained his crown, so firmly had the ability of Theofrom Honorius a share in the empire for her hbus- dosius fixed the power of his faimily. (Zosimus, v.
band Constantius [CONSTANTIUS III.], the dignity 58, 59, vi.; Orosius, vii. 36-43; Olympiodor.
of Augusta for herself [GALLA, No. 3], and that apud Phot. Bibl. cod. 80; Claudian, Opera, passim;
of Nobilissimus Puer for her infant son Valentinian Marcellin. Citron.; Idatius, Fasti and CZronicon;
[VALENTINIANUS III.] The death of Constantius Prosper Aquitan. Clron.; Prosper Tiro, Cihron.;
a few months after delivered Honorius from a col- Cassiodor. Citron.; Chron. Paschal, pp. 304-313,
league whom he had unwillingly accepted. His ed. Paris, vol. i. pp. 563-579, ed. Bonn; Promanifestations of affection for the widow, especially copius, De Bell. Vand. i. 1-3; Jornandes, De
"their incessant kissing," according to Olympio- Reb. Getic. c. 29 —3'2; Socrat. HI. E. vi. 1, vii. 10;
dorus, gave occasion to some scandalous reports; Sozom. H. E. viii. 1, ix. 4, 6-16; Theodoret.
but their love was succeeded by hatred, and Placidia HI. E. v. 26; Theophan. Chronog. pp. 63-72, ed.
fled with her children, Valentinian and Honoria Paris, pp. 116-130, ed. Bonn; Zonaras, xiii. 21;
[GRATA, No. 2], to her nephew Theodosius II. at Gothofred. Chronol. Cod. Theodos.; Tillemont,
Constantinople, A. D. 423. The death of Honorius Hist. des Empereurs, vol. v.; Gibbon, ch. 29, 30,
took place soon after his sister's flight. He died of 31, 33; Eckhel, vol. viii. pp. 171 —174; Ducange,
dropsy, 27th Aug. 423, aged 39, after a disastrous Famnil. B$yzantaiae.) [J. C. M.]
reign of twenty-eight years and eight months.
The place of his burial appears to have been at
Ravenna, where his tomb is still shown in a building said to have been erected by Placidia his sister;
though it was pretended that his body and that of
his two wives, Maria and Thermantia, were dis- \ -
covered buried under the church of St. Peter at \ \
Rome A. D. 1543. His thirteenth and last consul-
ship was A. D. 422, the year before his death.
The character of Honorius presents little that is COIN OF HONORIUS.
attractive. His weakness;was not accompanied HONO'RIUS, JU'LIUS, the name prefixed to
either by the accomplishments or the amiableness a short geographical tract first published by J.
of Gratian and Valentinian II.; and though not Gronovius, in his edition of Pomponius Mela (Lug.
naturally cruel, his fears impelled him occasionally Bat. 1685), from an imperfect MS. in the Thuto acts of blood and violations of good faith; and anean library at Paris, under the title Jzlii Honorii
the interference of the secular power in the affairs Oratoris Excepita quae ad Cosmographiam perof religion led to persecution and consequent dis- tinent. According to the arrangement here adopted,
content.. His feebleness prevented all personal the world is divided into four Oceans, the Eastern,
exertion for the safety of his dominions; and his Western, Northern, Southern (Oceanus Orienlalis,
long reign, the longest the empire had known, with Occidentalis, Septentrionalis, Meridianus), and a
the exception of those of Augustus and Constantine catalogue is given of the seas, islands, mountains,
the Great, determined the downfal of the Roman provinces, towns, rivers, and nations contained in
empire. A long catalogue of usurpers, the sure each, furnishing nought save a bare enumeration of
indication of a weak government, is given by Oro- names, except in the case of the rivers, whose
sius;- Rome itself was taken by a foreign invader, source, termination, and occasionally length of